How guns can be a family affair going back generations (VIDEO)

“Gun control in Wyoming is how steady you hold your rifle,” former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson tells CBS about the interwoven thread of firearms in his family.

Simpson, the paterfamilias of his family that has long carried, used and loved guns, sat down with Ted Koppel and tied his feelings on gun control going back to his own grandmother, born in 1874 (“She always carried a derringer in her purse”) to that of his own grandchildren who shoot activly.

Simpson, a Republican who spent over two decades in the Senate, goes on to tell Koppel how much he cares about how urban gun control advocates feel.

“And they don’t give a **** what people think about them back there while they’re killing each other every day — more than they are out here,” said Simpson. “Why do we have to listen to that?”

Koppel also visits with the local sheriff, other families who instill the shooting sports to their kids, a rancher with armed cowboys and a budding competition shooter who has a contract with his father to be able to continue shooting that includes getting good grades and keeping off the dope.

“I have to keep a GPA above 3.95,” 13-year old Dillon Romero said, “not do any drugs or alcohol, ever, pretty much, and just stay out of trouble with the law and my teachers, respect him and my mom.”

Overall the piece is fairly pro-gun, at least as good as it gets for national media, though there is a couple scenes where shooters aren’t using eye pro and Koppel does raise an eyebrow or two along the way.